TOW where the cul-de-sac crew move to New York
by christacox13
Summary: Following the two main couples within Cougar Town as they enter the world of Friends. The characters in the story are not limited to those tagged. Set after the finale of Friends with the ages of the Cougar Town characters as they were in the early seasons of the show. Character credits for those within the shows go to Marta Kauffman, David Crane and Bill Lawrence. Please review.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Yell at me all you want to, but yes I am here with yet another story. This one is going to be something that I have never done before, but also something that I think is completely original. It's a Cougar Town and Friends crossover. The basic plot is that Ellie, Andy, Stan, Travis, Grayson and Jules are moving to New York where Ross, Rachel, Monica and Chandler are (they are the main relationships that I am focusing on from Friends but I will include the other characters, however the only characters from Cougar Town are the ones that I am including. I also have a book that only focuses on Cougar Town, and if you are interested, I would appreciate you checking it out. Anyway, let's get to the first chapter:

Chapter 1

"We're finally in New York," Jules breathes.

"Dime eyes here is struggling to contain his excitement," Ellie says, as she wheels her suitcase and tries to juggle Stan's baby carrier as well.

Jules glances at Grayson, who is looking somewhere between tired and fed up. She motions to start talking to him, but decides against it, especially since they had a taxi to catch that was taking them out of the city to Westchester County. Jules and Grayson would be sharing a house that was adjacent to Ellie and Andy, and Travis would be sharing with Jules and Grayson until the apartment in Manhattan that he had been able to buy was ready for him to move into.

"It's been hard for all of us to move," Jules says, looking back at Grayson in the hope that he might hear her acknowledgement.

"You don't say," Ellie shrugs, "although it's nice to be able to completely redesign the house exactly as I want it again."

Jules rolled her eyes. "I'm happy about that too," she says, "and Glen said that it would be a nice opportunity to let Grayson add the touches he wants to the design."

"If only that would actually end up being the case," Ellie says, purposely sounding dreamy.

Jules scowls.

"I don't know why she has faith in discharging you guys," Ellie adds, ignoring Andy's warning look.

"We were moving too far away from the catchment area that she sees clients from," Jules says, attempting to reason with the conversation. "Besides, she said that she thought that we were in a stable enough relationship to be able to sort out problems between ourselves."

Ellie snorts, and Jules decides that trying to fight Ellie any further would slow them down so she ignores it.

All six of them manage to find their designated cab in the parking lot outside of the JFK airport, and start driving out of the city.

"I'm so excited for this," Andy whispers to Ellie, Stan's baby carrier half on his and Ellie's laps as an attempt to keep it balanced.

"I'm not," Ellie says, nonchalantly, swatting Andy.

Andy knew Ellie well enough to see right through Ellie's apparent disinterest in the move. He knew that she was desperately excited for the change in scenery, and that coming back to New York was something that she had had plans for as long as he had known her. He, himself, shared his wife's excitement for the change of scenery and what it would have to offer for Ellie and his son. Saying goodbye to his long-time best friend, Bobby, had been the hardest element of the move for him but he was sure that it would become easier and they had promised to stay in touch and Andy had even thought about mailing tickets to Bobby back in Gulfhaven to come and visit.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked, looking at Ellie in the way that he knew that would be able to ease the truth out of her.

"You're right," Ellie admitted, smiling back at Andy. "I can't believe I get to share this experience with all the people I care the most about."

"Me neither," he says, revelling in this moment with his wife. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, boo," Ellie replied, and Andy could see that her whole face was light up and smiling.

They both turn away from each other, and look ahead. Jules is sitting in the seat in front of Ellie and Andy with Grayson, directly behind the driver. Travis is sandwiched in the seat between them, much to his disapproval.

Jules and Grayson weren't talking to each other. Jules didn't want to bring up the move with Grayson because she knew how heart-wrenchingly difficult leaving his house and business had been and to remind him would be completely unfair. Grayson was not speaking to Jules as a way to try and keep a distance from the situation, and he was desperate to not have to face the reality as long as possible. It tore him apart because he loved Jules so much, but he couldn't stand the pain of the reality.

"The fact that you two aren't even talking is making the already awkward situation like 10 times worse for me," Travis comments, looking at Grayson and Jules's mutually dull expressions.

Jules scowls in response, and Grayson shot Travis an equally unhappy look.

Travis threw up his hands in surrender. "I'm sor-ry," he says, looking guilty. He turns to focus on the front of the cab, and the busy traffic on the road ahead.

After about 35 more minutes of sitting in busy traffic, the roads start to get less heavily populated and the surroundings are full of more greenery than buildings. A little further down the last highway that they would be travelling down, they passed that sign that welcomed them into Westchester County.

"I'll finally be out of here soon," Travis rejoices.

This time, Ellie, Jules and Grayson all shoot him glares. "What?" he says, sounding annoyed. "I get to get out of this uncomfortable situation with you three grumps! What could be better than that?"

Ellie decides to comment. "Not being homeless until you get the apartment, at the request of Jules and Grayson specially."

Travis gives her a cold look, but decides to stop soon after because he didn't want to give Ellie the satisfaction that she was craving from his reaction. Nevertheless, it was the truth of the potential outcome, so he shut up completely at the mercy of needing to avoid homelessness.

The journey only lasted about another 10 minutes, and soon enough the cab was pulling into the new neighbourhood that would become home to the six. Ellie and Andy got out of the cab first, and stood and admired their new home.

"What do you think?" Andy asks, in awe, whilst also keeping a firm grip on the handle of Stan's carrier.

"Nothing that I hadn't expected from the photographs," Ellie shrugs, struggling to cover up the awestruck expression that hadn't passed Andy's notice.

"Stop lying to me," Andy says, shaking his head. "You love it really."

Ellie scowls. "I hate you that you know me so well," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I don't because otherwise I would have left you a long time ago," Andy says, and Ellie attempts to hide a smile.

"Sure, sure," Ellie says, dismissively.

Jules walks up to Ellie and Andy, and they turn around in surprise.

"Sorry to interrupt the world's most unlikely couple," Jules starts to say, "but I was just coming to say that the removal van guy called me to say that he will be here with our stuff hopefully today, but possibly tomorrow. He did say that he was sorry but it really sucks."

Ellie's expression darkens, and Andy winces and gives Jules his best warning look.

"Is there nothing he can do to get here any quicker?" Ellie asks, her voice rising. "We have nothing for Stan apart from the on the go things, and this is the only full outfit we both have!"

Andy moves closer towards Ellie, trying to figure out best to calm her down. Jules offers to take Stan's baby carrier from Andy, and backs away slightly to allow Ellie and Andy to have privacy to figure the situation out.

"Boo, what do you want me to do?" Andy asks Ellie, putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Just don't leave whilst we sort this," Ellie says softly, making eye contact with Andy.

He looks back at her, and smiles. "Of course, boo," he says, noticing the trusting look in Ellie's eyes as they maintain their gaze at each other. "I agreed in marriage that I would never leave you when you needed me, whatever the circumstance, and you can bet on me keeping my word."

"I love you so much," Ellie says and Andy could see from her expression that she really meant every single word. "I hope you never forget that."

"I won't, boo," Andy says, leaning in closer to kiss Ellie. The kiss lasted about three seconds before Ellie breaks away and starts talking.

"I think I know what we can do for Stan, at least," she says, and Andy's eyes light up.

"That's awesome!" he exclaims, before heaving a huge sigh of relief.

"Slow down, child," Ellie says, sounding more like herself and less like a worried wreck, which Andy was glad of. "I'm going to ask Jules if she would be willing to see if anyone in the neighbourhood would be willing to lend any of their baby stuff to us."

"Okay," Andy says, watching Ellie walk back over to Jules, who was sitting with Stan on the doorstep to her new home.

"Jules," Ellie says, and Jules looks up from where she had been staring at whilst being spaced out.

"Yes, Ellie?" Jules replies. "Do you want Stan back or what?"

"Yeah," Ellie replies. "So I can take him back to Andy. But that wasn't really my reason for coming to talk with you – I was actually wondering whether you would ask around the neighbourhood to see if anyone has any spare or old baby stuff for us."

Jules nods. "Sure," she says. "Do you want to come with me or is it definitely just me?"

"Just you," Ellie replies quickly, sounding very certain. "I'm surprised you would actually ask because we all know how much I hate talking to humans."

"I know," Jules says, slightly defensively. "I just thought that I would ask because it might be a good idea to get to know at least some of our neighbours."

"Yeah, no thanks," Ellie says, grabbing Stan's baby carrier from Jules briskly. "Have fun." She stops for a minute and adds, "Or rather, good luck."

Jules rolls her eyes, and stands up to walk down the steps outside her house. She turns directly to the house on the right, as the one on the left was Ellie and Andy's. She walks up the steps to the front door, and stands on the doorstep, ringing the bell.

The door opens after three rings on the doorbell, and reveals a slender, brunette-haired woman dressed in track pants and a patterned blouse.

"Hi," the woman says. Jules is drawn to her bright blue eyes, which are full of curiosity at the sight of her. "Can I help you at all?" she asks.

"So sorry," Jules starts to say, embarrassment washing over her. "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Jules Cobb, and I just moved into the house next to yours on the right."

"The one that was up for sale?" the woman asks, and Jules nods. "Oh cool!" she says, "I'm Monica Geller-Bing, but friends and family just call me Mon. I have two kindergarten aged twins, Erica and Jack, and the best husband I could ever ask for, Chandler Bing. And I work a job as a head chef at a restaurant called Javu. What about yourself?"

Jules pauses to think before answering. As much as she was really interested to find out about her neighbours, now wasn't really the time for that. However, she was at a loss over how to tell Monica that and so she just decided to answer the question, hoping that there would be a time that she could bring the conversation back to what she really needed especially because it would seem that Monica would actually have the baby equipment that Ellie and Andy needed.

"I have a boyfriend called Grayson Ellis, and a son called Travis," Jules says, and Monica nods politely for Jules to continue. "Up until recently, I had a job as a real estate agent, but because of the move I'll have to do something else. Grayson and I are actually both unemployed as of now."

Monica looks at Jules sympathetically. "That sounds a little rough. Do you have any new jobs in mind?"

Jules felt a little put on the spot by that question, as it had been on her mind, but nothing had been finalised. She didn't want Monica's pity, but at the same time she had no real answer. In the end, she decided to go for the most ambiguous answer that she could think of on the spot. "We've both been looking into jobs around here ever since we planned the move, so I think we'll be all good," she says, hoping that Monica wouldn't question her further.

"That's good," Monica says, looking genuinely happy for Jules and Grayson. "Was there any particular reason that you decided to come and speak to me, besides to get to know me? It's just so rare within this neighbourhood, unless you are coming to ask for something."

Jules heaves a huge sigh of relief in her mind. She had just been saved the potential humiliation of trying to insert the favour that Ellie wanted, and she was rejoicing. "My friend and her husband, who moved with Grayson and I, have a baby and they don't have any of their essential home stuff for him because of the shitty removal van," she ends up saying.

"Oh no!" Monica exclaims, looking like she genuinely cares for the situation. "I'm like 98% that I have some of Erica and Jack's stuff left over, so they might be able to use that."

Jules looks even more grateful than she was initially. "Do you want to have them come in with their boy?" she asks Monica, hoping that it's not too big of a favour.

"Seems like a good idea," Monica says, and Jules walks back down the steps and to Ellie and Andy.

She tells and Andy and Ellie the proposition, and tries to ignore Ellie's disappointed look when she realises that borrowing baby stuff off of Monica will involve having a decent conversation with her. Andy, on the other hand, seems to be appreciative and grateful for the offer. He leads a grudging Ellie up the steps as they follow Jules to Monica.

"Hi," Monica says cheerfully, when all three of them are on the top step in front of Monica and Chandler's doorstep.

"Hiya," Andy replies, digging Ellie in the ribs with his elbow with the arm that wasn't holding Stan's baby carrier.

"I'm really sorry, but I don't think Jules ever mentioned what your names are," Monica says, sounding genuinely apologetic.

Andy decided to speak, despite flashing Ellie a look because he wanted her also to speak and she was adamant that she wasn't going to. "I'm Andy Torres," Andy says, "and this is my wife Ellie, and my son Stanley." Monica's gaze turned to the baby carrier in Andy's grip.

Andy took the opportunity to elbow Ellie in the ribs a second time whilst Monica was focused on the baby. Ellie looked at him with a quizzical look, so Andy turns away and starts to focus back on Monica, Jules and Stan. "I'll get you back for this," Ellie whispers in his ear. Andy continued to ignore her, especially since he wasn't interested in conversation with Ellie especially because she seemed to be so ungrateful for the help that their kind neighbour was offering. Often Ellie was this confusing and predictable at the same time, and so Andy just knew that the best thing to do was not give Ellie the satisfaction that she wanted.

A/N: Here you guys go with this ridiculously long first chapter at almost 3k words. If you're wondering why it's so long, I got really excited with the idea of this and got completely sucked in by it. I hope that you guys will enjoy it, and read and review it and maybe even suggest some plot ideas because I will always be grateful for them. I also wanted to apologise for my tendency to switch between the past and the present tenses – it's because I have never really properly written from the 3rd person perspective and so it's one of the things that I hope I will get better at the more I write this way. Just as a disclaimer, I want to remind everyone reading this that I don't own any of the characters mentioned in this book that are mentioned in either the original shows of Cougar Town or Friends, and the credits go to Bill Lawrence and anyone else who wrote Cougar Town and Marta Kauffman and David Crane who wrote Friends. Again, I would also ask if you are curious, to check out the three books I am writing as part of the trilogy, and the one that I am writing which is solely based on Cougar Town.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I won't be offended if you all hate me for having gone on a bit of an updating spree, but here we go with the second chapter of my Cougar Town/Friends crossover. I hope that you guys will continue to support this novel as you have with my other four, and as always, I will always welcome feedback in the form of reviews or suggestions for future updates. Also, on a completely unrelated note, you should go stream Charlotte Lawrence's music because she is a really talented artist and one of my favourites by far. With that being said, let's move on to the chapter:

Chapter 2:

"How are you finding your first day as a resident here?" Monica asks Ellie, bringing over a cup of coffee for her and Andy.

"It's definitely interesting," Andy answers, dubiously. "Stan was keeping poor Ellie up most of the night, as he doesn't seem to be used to the move yet."

Monica looks at Ellie sympathetically. Ellie is sitting silently, sipping the coffee that Monica had just handed over to her. She's still tired, but she knows that Andy wouldn't appreciate her to really say what she feels like towards Monica.

"Hey, Mon," Chandler walks through the door of the sitting room. He sees Ellie and Andy. "Am I late to the party?"

Ellie looks up from staring at the coffee in her mug. "I think you're right on time," she said, smiling at Chandler.

"I don't think you met my husband yesterday," Monica said, gesturing towards Chandler and looking in the direction of Ellie and Andy.

Chandler waved awkwardly. He wasn't a fan of Monica turning the spotlight on him, but he also knew that it was common courtesy to introduce himself and so he decided that it was worth obliging than receiving punishment from Mon later. "I'm Chandler, the second-in-command of the ship that Monica sails."

Monica smiled at him. "He's the best second-in-command," she says, looking at him fondly.

Ellie made sure that she looking in the opposite direction to Monica, and mimed throwing up. She was sick of all the sentiment, and she didn't know how longer she could get Jules and Grayson to look after Stan before it became her responsibility, which she was desperately trying to hold off after the last sleepless night.

Monica left the room to check on Jack and Erica.

"If it's okay with you," Andy says to Ellie, "do you mind if I go back to Jules and Grayson's to get Stan back from them?"

Ellie didn't look up at Andy, but she nodded. Andy kissed her goodbye and then left the sitting room. Chandler and Ellie were the only ones left sitting in the sitting room. "How do you put up with being bossed around by your wife all the time?" Ellie asked, hoping that Chandler would appreciate her sense of humour.

"Barely," Chandler replied, and Ellie chuckled. Chandler liked her because she seemed to get his sense of humour in a way that even Monica couldn't completely get.

"I have my husband wrapped around my little finger," Ellie said, smugly.

"I'm sure he really appreciates that," Chandler says, and Ellie chuckled again.

"How have we never met before?" Ellie says. "You exactly get my sense of humour, even better than my husband."

"Good to know that the feeling's mutual," Chandler says. "Maybe you're not as bad as most people in this world."

"Likewise," Ellie says. "It's people like you that restore my perpetually diminishing faith in humanity."

The door opens again, and Monica walks in.

"Sorry to break up your bonding time," Monica says, "but Chandler, you're needed to take your turn looking after the twins."

Chandler leaves, and Ellie and Monica are left alone. Ellie revels in the awkward silence between the two girls, and Monica tries in vain to think of questions to fill the silence.

"What's your favourite thing about being a Mom?" Monica asked, as her best attempt at making polite conversation.

"Being able to send Stan to the nanny," Ellie replied, smiling at Monica.

Monica felt frustrated, but she desperately tried to hide it. "Sometimes I wish that I could say the same for Jack and Erica," she said. "But then I remember that I care far too much to let them out of my sight."

Ellie looked at Monica with a warning look, and Monica was forced to recollect the last sentence she said. Her expression changed from hiding her annoyance to self-consciousness. "I'm so sorry," Monica said, sounding really embarrassed. "I didn't mean that you didn't care about your son."

"I didn't take it that way," Ellie said, hoping that she sounded reassuring. "Promise you." She turned around again and glared at nothing in particular.

"Good," Monica said, not feeling any less awkward than the situation had already made her. "I mean, I wouldn't want to hit it off on the wrong foot with someone that was as close to me as my neighbour."

Ellie nodded. "Glad we're on the same page," she said, marvelling at how easy it was to lie straight to her face.

"I'm baaaack!" Andy called, as he walked into the sitting room, with Stan on his hip.

Ellie silently prayed a prayer of thanks, and stood up to join Andy and her son. "We're going to go back to our apartment now," Ellie says to Monica, and Andy adds a thank you for her hospitality.

When Ellie and Andy were back on the street, Ellie started talking to Andy.

"No offence," Ellie started to say.

"That's the first time in a long time that I have ever heard you say that," Andy says, "but continue."

"I really don't want to sound more ungrateful than I have to be," Ellie continued, "but that Monica really makes me want to stab my eyes out with forks, and I mean it."

"In what way?" Andy asks, knowing that he is treading on thin ice by enquiring further.

Ellie didn't even have to stop to think before answering. "She's just obnoxiously happy all the time, and she is far too polite for my liking," she said.

"That's what it's like being a pleasant person that people can rely on," Andy says, putting the emphasis on the 'that's'.

"But her happiness makes me want to kill myself," Ellie moaned. "It's not fair."

Andy chuckled at how typically Ellie she was being. "For once," Andy said. "It is not my problem so you'll have to figure that out for yourself. I'm just trying to keep the peace between everyone in this new neighbourhood, at least until we know them better."

"I think I can judge pretty accurately from the first few interactions," Ellie said, flouncing off towards her and Andy's apartment. "But I won't stop you from talking to the most childish woman I have had the displeasure to meet."

"Come on!" Andy says his signature catchphrase, and Ellie flips him off as she continues to walk up to their house.

He stands in the middle of the road, Stan still on his hip. The door on the house that was on the left side of ours opened, and a woman with dark blonde hair walked out and spotted me in the middle of the road.

"Hey!" she called. "Cute baby!" She started walking towards me and Stan.

"You must be one of the new neighbours," the woman continued to say. "I'm Rachel Green."

"Hi, Rachel," Andy said, looking her up and down and having a realisation that she really wasn't that bad looking at all. "I'm Andy Torres, I have a grumpy and rude but perfect wife called Ellie Torres and this is our son Stan."

"Awesome," Rachel said. "I have the biggest nerd in the history of nerds for a husband, a beautiful daughter and the most handsome and clever step nephew."

The door to Rachel's house opens again, and Andy saw a man that looked surprisingly like Monica standing in the doorway. Rachel beckoned him over, and his gaze immediately fell on Stan.

"That's one beautiful son that you have there," he said. "I'm Ross Geller-Green, by the way."

Andy felt less confused after Ross said that as it made sense that Ross had Monica's surname in his name as he had wondered if they were related. "So you're related to Monica?" he asked, interested to hear his theory confirmed.

"We're brother and sister," Ross replied.

"Cool," Andy said, rocking Stan in his arms as he had started crying. "So how did you get to know Monica, Rachel? If you don't mind me asking out of curiosity."

"I don't mind at all," Rachel said. "We went to high school together, and then after we both graduated I ran off and almost married a guy who I was sure was the love of my life."

Andy gave Rachel a look that he hoped she would read as a cue to continue on.

"I left him at the altar," Rachel admitted, sheepishly. "Then I use the telephone book to find Monica again at a coffee shop called Central Perk, and moved into her apartment after having a fight with my father over money and the wedding."

"And now you've wound up with me," Ross said, smiling at Rachel and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

Rachel smiles back. "After a rocky few years, we finally tied the knot and I haven't looked back since," she concluded.

Andy felt so happy for the couple because he felt like he could really feel the affection that they had for each other. "You guys remind me so much of Ellie and I right now," he said.

Rachel and Ross smiled at each other, and Andy's happy expression changed to one that was more solemn as he recollected the argument that Ellie and he had had. "I gotta go," he said, stopping rocking a now content Stan, and hugging him against his shoulder on his way to walking to Ellie and his house.

Rachel and Ross started making their own way back to their house as they saw no reason to stay out, and Andy started dreading seeing Ellie again as he walked up the stairs to the front door. Keeping one hand on supporting Stan, he knocked. He got no reply, which didn't surprise him. He tried the door handle and had no luck.

"For God's sake, woman!" he exclaimed. "Our son is out here, getting cold! I get that you're mad at me, but Stan too? Really?"

Andy could hear the lock in the door shift, and the door became slightly ajar. Two hands reached from behind the door, and secured themselves around Stan so that Andy had no choice but to hand him over. The door closed afterwards, and was locked shut.

"I'll take that as you still don't want to see me," Andy said, walking back down the steps. He decided to sit on the grass on the sides of the path and hope that Ellie would take pity on him later in the day.

He had sat there for about five minutes when he saw Jules walking out of her house. She must have seen him sitting there because she started making her way straight over to him. "Ellie mad at you again?" Jules asked sympathetically, sitting beside Andy on the grass.

Andy nodded. He knew that Jules knew that Ellie often behaved exactly like this, but she also knew that Andy didn't always realise that he was one of the people that Ellie would never genuinely hurt him on purpose.

"She'll get over it," Jules says, wrapping her arm around Andy's shoulders. "She always does, especially when it's me or you."

Andy smiles. "I love both of you," he says to Jules. "You're always the best."

Jules smiles to herself. "Is it too early to ask what the argument was about?" Andy nodded silently, and Jules took that as her cue to quit the conversation. "Do you think Ellie will mind if I go and say something?" she asks Andy. He shakes his head so Jules stands up and starts making her way up the steps.

She knocks on the door, and the door opened a crack again. "Who is it?" Ellie asked quietly through the door.

"Jules," Jules says quietly back, and the door opens wide enough for her to get in.

Ellie was standing next to the foot of the stairs, Stan holstered on her hip. She was wearing an oversized hooded sweater with jeans, and the expression on her face was past fed up. Jules felt a wave of sympathy for her best friend, which quickly transferred into a flurry of ideas for a solution based on previous experience.

"This is because of Andy, isn't it?" Jules said, with a knowing look on her face.

Ellie mumbled a reply, but still didn't make eye contact with her.

"You were always like this back in Florida when you fought with Andy," Jules reasoned. "It's all because you love him, and have through everything he's done since you married him. You can't bear to see him sad."

Jules walked further down the hallway towards the kitchen. She walked over to where the coffee machine stood, and started searching in the cupboards for instant coffee. She found two sachets, and looked at the dishwasher. It had stopped the most recent washing up cycle and hadn't been emptied, so Jules selected two of the nearest mugs.

Once she had made the coffee, she passed one mug to Ellie and walked over to the dining table. Ellie sat Stan down in his high chair that had been switched this morning in the place of Stan's baby carrier, which had been acting as a temporary solution to the lack of one with no thanks at all to the removal van guy.

"Are you planning on saying anything at all?" Jules said, as Ellie handed Stan his teething ring in the desperate hope that there would be no chance of him starting to scream for as long as possible. "Because I have all the time in the world to sit here and listen."

Ellie starts to smile, and looks away as soon as she remembers that Jules is with her. Unfortunately for Ellie, Jules also was familiar with this move as a decoy to hide how she was really feeling, and was more than willing to rat her out for it.

"You're happy I'm here," Jules says, looking directly at Ellie despite the fact that she was still completely avoiding her. "You feel less lonely and sad because you know that I am one of the people that can improve your mood despite the fact that you are wondering why I bother to stay and care about you because of your acquired taste in humour."

Ellie cracked, and started smiling back at Jules. "Have I ever mentioned how much I hate you for always being so selfless and right about me?" Ellie said, somewhere between trying to look annoyed and embarrassed that Jules was right again about the situation and she was letting her in once again.

"Often," Jules said, chuckling slightly. "You should go and apologise to Andy because you know that's what you want to go do."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Yes, it is," she said, shrugging it off. "I still feel so bad though, and it's not to do with Andy."

"Oh," Jules said, a little shocked. "You wanna tell me, 'cause I'll probably find out anyway."

Ellie rolled her eyes a second time. "I hate Monica," she said, avoiding eye contact with Jules again out of shame.

Jules sucked her breath through gritted teeth. "That's awkward," she said, feeling a wave of sympathy and preventative second-hand embarrassment for everyone in the situation, but mainly Ellie. "Can I ask why?"

Ellie looked away again out of shame, but started talking regardless. "She's just obnoxiously positive about every single thing, and she wants to control everything. And she's also far too polite for my liking," Ellie added, and Jules sniggered.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Jules said, trying to compose herself but failing almost as desperately as she was hanging onto the last unravelling thread of any kind of composure. "Now I can really see Andy's frustrations."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "He always gets over it," she says, smugly.

"True," Jules shrugs. "Do you want me to go and let him in?"

"I think he's been out there long enough," Ellie shrugs, feeling satisfied with herself and Andy's punishment. Jules stood up, and walked to the door. She unlocked the door, and saw Andy turn around.

"Is she ready to have me back in?" he asked, looking so desperate that Jules couldn't help but snigger a little. "She is," she said, and watched as Andy fist-pumped the air and started walking back over.

Jules let Andy pass past her, and started walking back down the steps to the road. She decided that she didn't want to go back home to Grayson, and started walking towards Monica and Chandler's, hoping that they would allow her to stay there for a while whilst she left Andy and Ellie patch up their rift.

A/N: And that's a wrap on the pretty long update for my Cougar Town/Friends fanfic! I hope that you guys enjoy this and will review and give suggestions for more ideas. While you're at it, I would also kindly ask that you read my Familiar Faces Trilogy and the Cougar Town book as well because all feedback is always appreciated to help me improve and grow as a writer. With that being said, I think I've talked long enough so thank you, goodbye and enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This chapter won't be up for a while probably, but I was desperate to be able to get this idea down on paper. It is the third chapter based on my story about the Cougar Town and Friends characters. I am always excited to update this story in particular because I really love the whole dynamic of having two things that I love mixing together, and being able to see how my favourite characters would interact. I just wanted to say that I appreciate all the love, support and feedback that I get and hope that you guys will consider continuing to stick with my writing as they have already done. I also hope that the fact that I am writing from Monica and Jules's POV as they are obviously played by the wonderful Courteney Cox is not confusing for you guys, but I hope that as I write them, they will adopt their own distinctive voices.

With all that being said, let's get on with the story:

Chapter 3:

"We should explore our surroundings more," Jules said, from the table that she was sitting around with Ellie and Andy. Andy was trying to entertain Stan, by trying to offer him his teething toy or his baby bottle filled with milk whilst Ellie and Jules sat talking over cups of coffee. They did it mainly out of habit, as they were used to hanging out together back in Florida.

"If it means interacting with other people," Ellie started to say, and Jules rolled her eyes because she was sure that she knew what was coming next, "you know how I feel about things like that."

Jules looked at her with a cynical expression. "How will you ever be able to feel like you fit in here if you never socialise or make some kind of attempt to get invested in the new community?" she asked her.

"Maybe I'm happy just doing things on my own terms," Ellie said, gesticulating around her and Andy's kitchen. "I have a loving husband, my son and all my friends on my doorstep, and that's all I could ever, ever ask for."

Jules decided that there was no point in continuing the conversation, especially since she knew how seriously Ellie would take it because she wouldn't let her forget it until some kind of conclusion was reached.

"Grayson and I just want to see more of the surroundings," Jules said, as a way of trying to bring peace and purpose to the situation, "and we just wanted to know whether you guys would have plans in joining us."

Ellie replied, saying, "Andy is welcome to go, but I will be staying here and looking after Stan."

"I'm happy with that," Andy said, trying to make eye contact with Ellie as a way of checking that she was happy as she was trying to sound. "As long as you are."

Ellie sneaked Andy a quick smile as her way of making sure that he knew that she was completely okay with the proposition.

"I'm going to leave, then, so that I can go get ready," Jules said, pushing away the mug after she drank the last of the coffee. "Thanks for the coffee, Ellie," she said, smiling at Ellie and she walked down the hallway to put her shows on and leave.

Jules walked down the steps from Ellie's and right up to hers and Grayson's house door. The handle clicked, and she walked straight into the hallway. She walked down into the kitchen, where Grayson was drying up the last of the cutlery and plates from breakfast.

"Hey, Jules," he said, turning around with the dishcloth in one hand and a plate in the other. "What did they say?"

"Ellie said that she would stay behind and look after Stan, which is no surprise," Jules said, and Grayson nodded in agreement, "but Andy said that he would be up for it, and Ellie seemed okay with it, so we should tell Monica and Rachel that we are good to go with them."

"I'll go and tell Monica after this," Grayson said, starting again to finish the rest of the washing up, "so you can go and start getting ready."

"Thanks so much, babe," Jules said, waking back through the hallway to the foot of the stairs and then up them to her and Grayson's bedroom. Once she was into the bedroom, she looked through the clothes that had been unpacked so far to find one that she thought would look good for the day. She ended up deciding on a plaid shirt and a pair of skinny jeans.

She took them to the en-suite bathroom and got changed. She then dragged a brush through her hair, and concluded that she was happy enough that she looked presentable and not overdressed. "Grayson!" Jules called as she realised that she must have left her handbag on the table, and she was about to go back downstairs to search when the door opened and Grayson walked in.

"This what you were looking for?" Grayson said, and Jules's gaze was drawn towards the handbag that was resting on his arm.

"Thank you so much, babe," Jules said, taking the handbag from Grayson's outstretched arm and quickly kissing him. She walked past him and exited the bedroom. She thundered down the stairs, and stopped quickly stuffed her feet into boots. She shouted goodbye to Grayson, and made her way back down the steps of her house to Ellie and Andy's.

She knocked on the door and Andy opened it. He looked ready to go, but Jules asked anyway. "You ready to go to Monica and Chandler's?" she asked, and he nodded.

They both turned to walk back down to the road and up to Monica and Chandler's. Jules decided that she would be the one to knock. Monica opened it and said, "Good, you're both here!" She turned to look behind the door and added, "Chandler's almost ready, so we'll be able to leave soon."

She opened the door further, and walked out. Jules and Andy could now see into the house, where Chandler was adjusting his shoes. He stood up and Monica locked the door shut after him and she joined the others as they walked down to the main road.

"I was thinking that we could go and get coffee and explore Central Park," Monica said, looking around at the others to try and gauge their reactions to the proposed plans. "Is that okay with you guys? Because we can always just go and do something else…" she trailed off.

"No, no, don't worry," Jules said, trying to reassure Monica that she loved the idea. "I'm really down to do anything."

"Good, good," Monica said, feeling less tense and anxious to please everyone and more of her usual, arguably bossy self. She darted a look at Chandler, who returned it with a look that Monica knew that he was thinking that she was worrying far too much and that everything was fine and she was already doing more than enough.

Andy was walking alongside Jules, just trying to soak up the atmosphere as the four walked towards the bus stop to wait for a bus to take them into the main city. Chandler and Monica were walking side by side, holding hands as they usually did. The temperature was colder than what Andy and Jules were used to, which Jules had discovered would be less of a problem as she still had an old winter jacket that she had bought a while ago, but Andy was less prepared in his jean shorts and a plaid shirt.

Monica noticed as she was walking along and had turned back just to check that they were still following them, and decided to ask, "Andy, are you okay there in those jean pants and the shirt without being too cold?"

He looked up, and shrugged. "I'm fine," he said, but Monica had a feeling that he was just saying it because there was no easy place to get anything warmer around where they were walking.

"Are you sure?" she said. "I'll buy you a pair of jean pants when we're in the city, if you want."

"Thanks," Andy said, and Monica could tell that he was being 100% sincere in his thanks to Monica.

"You're welcome," Monica said. "It's honestly nothing." She was just happy that she could help a friend out when he needed it, or needed it and hadn't quite realised yet.

Andy still couldn't really understand why Ellie had a problem with Monica. If anything, she seemed so much like Jules that he actually expected her to like her. And she had never been rude or anything to her, so it seemed even more weird and unprovoked. In the end, he just decided that he would push the thought to the back of his mind with the conclusion for the moment that it would just be another of the things that Ellie did that would never make sense to him, and focus on enjoying the moment.

The four of them waited at the bus stop, Monica and Chandler keeping together to try and keep warm and Jules and Andy doing the same.

"Do you guys manage to get our like this much, with having Jack and Erica and everything?" Jules asked out of curiosity and the fact that she knew exactly how hard it had been for her and Travis, and Bobby too when he had been around to be committed.

"My parents help out a lot," Monica replied, feeling glad about it the thousandth time. "We were both surprised when they offered as I haven't always had the best relationship with them, but turns out that Jack and Judy Geller can't resist any opportunity to be grandparents."

Jules chuckled. "I certainly didn't get that level of support with Travis."

"How come?" Monica replied, "You might have said before so I apologise but I'm sorry, I have the world's worst memory sometimes."

"Oh, Travis and I's father had a difficult relationship when we were still married," Jules replied, and Andy shot her a sympathetic look because he knew all too well how hard it had been first-hand and how difficult it was for Jules to talk about it. "He was just never around, and was off seeing other women often just as I really needed him. We're in a better place now that Travis older, even best friends."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Monica said sympathetically, "but at least you are still friendly with him because I can see that it would be almost impossibly difficult just to cut someone completely out of your life if they once meant enough to you to devote your entire life to them."

Jules nodded in appreciation of Monica's respectful attitude to the situation. "It's true," Jules said, "and Bobby's starting to look for people that will make him happy in the ways that I just couldn't so things are looking up for him too."

"That's great!" Monica said, as she and the others focused their gaze on the fast approaching bus that they were planning on boarding. "Do you guys have money to pay for the bus?" she asked Jules and Andy.

"I've got a few dollars in my wallet," Jules replied, intending on using some of it to buy Andy's ticket as well as she strongly suspected, since Ellie was in charge of managing the money that she and Andy spent, that she had refused to give him any because of her disapproval of him being part of this trip. "Is that going to be enough?"

Monica nodded her head. "Yeah, definitely," she said, now at the front of the line waiting to get onto the bus. There was only one other person, who had just arrived looking very flustered, in the line as well as the other four.

Monica and Chandler boarded first after paying, and started to search for seats before settling on two that were close to the back, but had an empty pair of seats directly behind them for the others. The bus was surprisingly empty for the time of day, with only an older lady aboard and a younger woman with a pushchair and a slightly smaller child on the seat beside her.

They were only on the bus for about twenty minutes and got off on a stop that was on the road that had the Starbucks on it that they wanted drinks from as part of a larger shopping area. Monica and Chandler got off first, and Monica started weighing up her options for what they did next. Jules and Andy were trying to take up as much as they could of what was going on around them as everything was new to them.

"Do you guys want to look around the shops or get something to drink first?" Monica asked, pulling her scarf closer to her neck as it had got caught in the hood of her jacket and started unravel from its cosy position between her neck and the hood of her jacket.

"I don't mind," Jules said, contemplating searching for more wintry clothes in the shops as most of the clothes that she still had were suited better to a warmer temperature which she was coming to realise with each day would not be very common in New York as it fluctuated most of the time, and was particularly cold in the fall and winter months.

Andy said that he didn't mind either, but Monica still had the fact that she had promised that she would buy him a warmer jacket fresh in her mind so she wanted to prioritise doing that. Chandler was happy with doing whatever Monica wanted to do, as he knew that she liked to do whatever she wanted and he didn't have any reason to disagree with her so he didn't see why things couldn't go the way she wanted.

"Since none of you guys seem to mind what order we do things," Monica said, looking around to assess her options for final decision making as she talked, "I think that it would be a good idea to go and get a jacket for Andy and then go straight from the shop to Starbucks."

No one expressed any further objections to this, and so they all made their way to the shops. Monica walked in first, and started searching for directions to the different areas of the shop. She found out that the male selection of clothes available could be found on the second floor, which was accessed via the escalators.

Jules decided that she would stay downstairs with Chandler, who really wasn't at all interested at looking at the clothes on sale, and Andy and Monica went up the escalators.

"What's your kind of style?" Monica asked Andy, wanting to get a better idea of what exactly she was supposed to be looking for.

"I don't pay much attention to it, honestly, especially since I married Ellie and she likes everything to look exactly how she wants," Andy said, "but I guess this might help you get the gist." He gestured to what he was already wearing, and Monica already started thinking up possibilities of the kind of jackets that would suit him.

"I think I've got a good enough idea," she said two minutes later, and started walking directly towards the far corner of the second floor. Andy tried desperately to try and keep up with her, as she had started walking fast as she was acting very much as if she was 'a man with a plan', and would do everything she possibly could to get it.

Monica started looking through the jackets that were stocked up on hangers on a rack that was fixed to the wall. Andy was following her gaze, trying to judge whether he liked the look of them or not. After sifting through the options, Monica stood on her tippy toes to try and reach one of the jackets at the very top of the rack, and managed on the third attempt.

"I really like this one," she said. Andy got to take a closer look and see that it was a light brownish colour and looked from the outside as if it was far thinner than it was in reality. The lining of the jacket was a layer of some much thicker looking almost padded material that looked like it would be very insulating.

Andy liked it because of the simplicity of the colouring and the fact that it looked like it would be a snug fit, and he also thought that Ellie would like it because he could see the stylish appeal to the jacket that she would pick up on. Overall, he was really satisfied with what he and Monica had found, and glad that Monica seemed to have an eye for finding clothes that he would be happy with and someone like Ellie would too.

"I really love it," he said to Monica, trying to make sure that his feelings of gratitude were apparent in his voice as he spoke.

Monica looked satisfied with herself. "Good, good," she said, fumbling in her handbag for her wallet. She paused for a moment, and said, "Do you want to try it on just so you're happy with the fit?"

Andy took the jacket off the hanger, and put it on. He was happy that the sleeves weren't too long and that the main body of the jacket wasn't too restrictive around his figure. He took it off, and handed it back to Monica, who put it back on its hanger.

They both started searching for the nearest check out, and found one that was opposite the escalator that they took to get onto the floor in the first place. Surprisingly, there was no queue so they walked straight up to the nearest till, and paid for the jacket. They walked back towards the escalators afterwards, and started searching for Chandler and Jules.

A/N: Just a short author's note to say that this chapter is now over, and I hope that this update is satisfactory for those that are interested in reading it. As usual, please don't hesitate to review and make suggestions for future chapters, and do the same for the other books that I am working on. Finally, I just want to say that I appreciate all the support that I have been receiving throughout all of the books that I have been writing, and I hope that you guys continue to enjoy what I do as much as I do because it honestly makes the hours of hard work that I spend on this chapters all worth the while. Thanks again, and see you guys soon!


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